


Lost And Found

by taichara



Category: Gundam SEED
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 19:53:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4889980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dying is only the first step.</p>
<p>But what might happen to you afterwards ...?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost And Found

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalloway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/gifts).



She couldn't say that she'd been prepared to die, really, when that last battle had finally erupted. Resigned to the possibility, maybe, in a don't-think-about-it kind of way; admitting that it was a depressingly high possibility, oh, definitely. But prepared? How did someone ever prepare for sudden death out of nowhere?

As it turned out, the dying part was the _easy_ part.

Adrift in the void, Juri wanted to hide; wanted to find some tiny little corner to squeeze herself into and ignore the black emptiness that promised to devour her whole. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to stop thinking about what had happened ...

_At least dying was fast. I don't even remember it happening, really ... it just -- did._

One moment, a flash of terror as she realized her suit had been hit by enemy fire -- and then nothing. 

Nothing, until she came around again just to realize she was looking down at what remained of her own corpse.

_That_ was something she only did once. 

Terror, seizing her again, drove her clear out of the wreck that was her Astray -- but only so far, as she hit some kind of barrier, was pulled on some invisible tether, and was drawn back before she'd bolted off into the void. Now she perched on a patch of mostly-intact plating, arms wrapped around herself (or acted like she did; did it count, if you weren't in your body? she wasn't sure) as she stared off across the black expanse.

_What happened to Mayura and Asagi and everyone else?_

_... What's going to happen to me?_

_I want to go home ..._

-*-

She had no idea how long she'd sat there. Time didn't seem to exist; there was no way to tell, hanging there in space, and it was hardly like she felt things like 'hungry' or 'tired' or 'sore' any longer. It all just kept going ... and going ... and _going_ ... until she felt like she wanted to scream, scream forever and never stop screaming.

She was going to be trapped, alone, forever.

-*-

_!!_

_What's going on --?!_

The sudden brilliance was a shock. 

So was the jarring, grating scrape of twisted metal against dense deckplates.

Combined, the two shook Juri out of the nothing-state she'd drifted into. Clinging to the Astray, she glanced around; it -- she -- looked to be in a cargo hold. Salvagers? The Junk Guild? Retrieval teams from OMNI or ZAFT ...?

Too many of those options were horrifying. She and her machine could be ... a glance towards the cockpit ended that line of thought almost immediately. She did _not_ want to think about that --

_Oh, god ..._

\-- and voices suddenly registered. Someone was rappelling up on overhead lines, coming to take a closer look. Coming towards the cockpit; coming towards _her_. Or what used to be her.

She darted away; she didn't want to know.

_I can't ..._

Sounds of a torch-cutter firing up, and mutterings into some headset or other. Now whoever it was sounded much more familiar ...

"Hi, Juri."

_!!!_

Sad, and strained, and so very tired-sounding, but still trying to keep some kind of a smile in his voice, for someone who -- as far as he knew -- couldn't hear him.

_Oh ...oh --!_

Oh yes, she knew now. She knew where she was, now.

"Don't you worry, you know, you just leave it all to us. We're gonna get you back to Orb again. Your suits, too."

The cockpit groaned.

A sudden pause, a quick breath --

"You all were awesome out there, and everyone's proud, and Erica's going to want to say that to you too. You'll see.

"You just leave it to us, and we'll get you home --"

\-- She didn't care what she might see; with every iota of will she had, she threw herself at him and clung, arms around his neck as she sobbed.

And Lowe turned off the torch, set it aside, and reached slowly up to rest his hands where her arms would be resting.

"I promise. I'm gonna get you back home."


End file.
